April 12, 2012

Box Score

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Megan Takacs scored four goals to set California's single-season goalscoring record and lead the Golden Bears to a 15-12 nonconference win over Vermont on Thursday afternoon at Virtue Field. The junior attacker now has 53 goals, surpassing the previous record of 49 she shared with former Bear Sarah Wheatley. Cal improved to 8-5, while the Catamounts fell to 8-6.

This marks Cal's first win in a game when the margin of victory was three goals or less. Cal has twice lost by one goal - at Oregon, 10-9, on Feb. 26 and against Boston University, 14-13, in Berkeley on March 14 - and once by three goals - to Denver, 16-13, on March 21 in Berkeley.

"One of those things we talked about was redemption," Cal head coach Ginger Miles said. "We came out to the East Coast to redeem ourselves after those close losses. Like I've said in my blog, we've been working on building and learning from past mistakes. And now I think we've learned how to win those close games."

Sophomore goalkeeper Megan McGinnis notched a career-high 14 saves to preserve the tight win, and junior attacker Alexa Rozelle matched Takacs with four goals for the Bears.

"Megan McGinnis played out of her mind today," Miles said. "She made point-blank save after point blank save. Defensively we did a great job. Anytime we had a breakdown, McG backed us up. Our attack was composed at the end of the game, and we got goals to pull away that we couldn't get in previous games."

Takacs, who also tallied an assist today, moved up to fifth place on Cal's all-time single-season points list with 60 this year. Junior attacker Melissa Humphrey, who collected four assists against Vermont, now ranks second on Cal's single-season assist list with 34; the school assist record is 41. Humphrey scored one goal and tied Takacs and Vermont's Jessica Roach (5 goals) for game-high scoring honors with five points apiece. Also, Humphrey is now tied with former Bear Colleen O'Mara for seventh place on the all-time single-season points list with 53.

"Megan Takacs has obviously been a big part of our attack all season long," Miles said. "She's such a dynamic player whether scoring or assisting, and she's someone who's been a standout for us. To break that school record was gratifying and exciting for all of us. We've been rooting for her all season long. To see her get that reward for all her hard work is great."

Cal trailed for all of one minute and 53 seconds against Vermont. Sydney Mas scored at 1:21 in the first half to give the Catamounts a 1-0 lead, but Takacs scored her first at 3:15 to tie the game at 1-1. The Bears opened up a 3-1 lead on goals by Rozelle at 4:01 and 10:11.

Mas scored her second for Vermont at 20:19 to tie the game at 5-5. But Humphrey scored off Takacs' assist at 23:16 to give Cal a 6-5 lead, and the Bears never trailed again.

Cal took an 8-6 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the Bears held four-goal leads twice - at 11-7 and 13-9 - but couldn't completely shake the Catamounts. After Mas completed her hat trick and scored what turned out to be the game's last goal at 56:24, neither team recorded a shot the rest of the game, and Cal held onto its 15-12 win.

The Bears next play Boston College in a nonconference match on Saturday, April 14, at 10 a.m. PT in Newton, Mass.